The Mismatch - Ja Is Done in Memphis, Concern About the Rockets, SGA Gets Spicy, NBA in Europe, and Is Jayson Tatum Close to Returning?

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

Verno and Jacoby return as they share the latest on Ja Morant and the Grizzlies before discussing their game against the Magic in Germany. They then go through the rest of the Thursday night slate of action as they discuss whether it's officially time to be concerned about the Rockets; the struggles of watching Karl-Anthony Towns on the Knicks; whether the Warriors will get anything in return for Jonathan Kuminga; the Pistons, who keep on rolling; Klay Thompson passing Damian Lillard on the all-time 3-point list; and more. Next, the guys dive into their loves and loathes from the past week in the NBA. (00:00) Welcome to The Mismatch! (01:05) Latest on Ja Morant (17:10) Magic beat Grizzlies in Germany (21:53) KD struggles in the Rockets' loss to the Thunder (28:31) LaMelo Ball and Hornets run out Lakers at home (30:46) The Warriors beat the Knicks at home. What can Golden State get for Jonathan Kuminga? (37:23) The Pistons overcome Cade Cunningham’s struggles and rally to beat the Suns (39:25) The rest of Thursday night’s action (47:55) Verno and Jacoby’s no. 1 loves of the week (56:01) Verno and Jacoby’s no. 1 loathes of the week (01:05:45) No. 2 loves of the week (01:13:41) No. 2 loathes of the week (01:18:38) No. 3 loves of the week (01:28:32) No. 3 loathes of the week The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Leave us a message on our Mismatch voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Jessie Lopez, Brian H. Waters, and Jeff Shearin Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Varnan and join him to see us every week from the ringer.com. This is Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. Verno, so much has happened since our show on Tuesday. There is so much to discuss, but we have to start in Europe with your Grizzlies. You've seen it. We've all seen it. The press conference with Jha, the weird Vince Williams conversation that I've watched a hundred times. I've seen all the lip readers, the dub over what they said. I still have no idea what they're arguing about or what the problem is between the two of them.

I need you, our Grizzlies guy, to explain what is going on in Berlin with your team. All right. So we were together on Tuesday and Tuesday evening while I was in New York City. And Wednesday, I flew back. We recorded on Tuesday. and I laid out a scenario in which maybe cooler heads prevail, maybe after a nine and a half hour flight to Berlin and you're around your teammates and you realize you're not going to get traded to where you want to get traded to,

then maybe you just decide, you know what, I've been going about this all wrong. If my goal is to get a max contract, the best thing I can do is play at an all-MBA level. if my goal is to get traded to a desired location, my best opportunity is to play at an all MBA level and maybe everything could get worked out and everybody realizes they would be better

if the situation works itself out rather than come to a head and make a trade that everybody ends up regretting. Okay. By the time I got on a plane on Wednesday, that was all off the table. All of it. That press conference was a disaster.

One of the worst press conferences I've ever seen in my life. Because, and it is just like, even if, even if you're done, you've got to fight, you want out, whatever, the guy was laid up an absolute softball.

He had just been, arena where every little kid in the arena is wearing Morant shoes and jerseys on Sunday. And he has laid up the softball of all softballs, which is to separate himself from organization, make himself a complete martyr in the situation, right? Like, I don't want to be, I don't want to go anywhere. They want to trade me. I kind of date, right? Even if that's not so, you've got that opportunity.

So he's laid up a softball by Drew Hill, one of the outstanding beat writers for the Grizzlies. It's basically... Also a great R&B group, but continue. Also a great R&B group. And he says, basically, you've seen all the reaction

from Grizzlies fans regarding all of this. And the first thing he says is, I haven't really seen it, which is bogus. There's nobody more online than him. The second thing he says is,

I don't think people should be worried about how other people feel. They should be worried about how I feel. And I've just, I mean, when I saw that press conference come across, I'm like, okay, bro. Okay. Like, you have a chance here to, this is the easiest thing to navigate ever. Right. I love the Memphis fans. I'm so, you know, I understand how many people support it. It's a, you know, it's a unfortunate situation. Oh, there's a million things you can say. That's not the one. You've got all these people that love you, all these people that support you,

All these people that have fought off people that have come after you for the last seven years. And your answer is, I don't think anybody should worry about what other people think. They should worry about what I think. And then you have the kerfuffle, whatever it is, with Vince Williams that goes viral. And then, most importantly, he's ruled out of the game. He's not playing in the game. That's the most important thing of all of this is that he wasn't playing, which was obviously a disaster because the NBA,

I had a buddy who was over there, send me a picture of the, like the, what's it called the souvenir stand? Bro, it's all Moran stuff. But the reason... I bet there's some Wagner brothers. No, no, no, no.

I'm saying on the Memphis side. Okay, yeah. On the Memphis side, it's Morant stuff everywhere. Like he is a, despite his play, despite his, inactivity. He is a global star. And he was on this huge stage and Adam Silver is giving his press conference and he's saying it's disappointing and hopefully he'll play in London. But I mean, make no mistake, a major reason why Memphis was selected to be in these games is because he is

part of the Memphis organization and because he does have this global superstardom. And so The whole thing is just a debacle. And then you have the whole he's bought a house in Miami in December. And then you have a leak from his side saying his preferred destination is Miami. And it's like, okay. Like now, and I thought it was hilarious watching Amazon Prime yesterday. This is why I love the Amazon crew and why having somebody like Eudonis Haslam on the broadcast is so instructive. when he was walking into the arena and Eudonis Haslam says,

there's no way you bring that much jewelry if you think you're going to play. You're going to play. Yeah. I was like, okay. All right. And so the whole thing, it's very clear this is, it's over.

It's over. All right. So when we last spoke on Tuesday in person, yep. I likened you to sort of a boyfriend is still trying to hold on to a relationship. Right. Clearly over. or have you let go of your relationship with John Moran in the Grizzlies?

No, no, no, no. Listen, listen. Now, let me be clear. And when we talked about that, obviously, you know, we posted the clip about me saying, my option is a girl with a mangled face in one eye. Understand that the reason that I think that, the reason I felt the way that I did and honestly, like still do,

is because I don't think either's going to be better off. because of it. Right? So, I mean, if you are coaching somebody through a relationship through this, and look, I am a massive sports fan and I love my teams. And I have been through this before, right? I watched Albert Poulos leave and go into total obscurity in Los Angeles and then end up coming back and hitting a 700th home run to a place that truly loves him.

And I watched Micah Parsons leave in the offseason from a 10th,000. team that I root for. And then I'm watching Monday night football and Chris Collinsworth says, I talk to Jerry Jones and I talk to Micah Parsons. And basically everybody regrets that the situation turned out the way that it did. And it's like, this stuff happens. Everybody gets mega emotional. And then you look up and you go, all right, was this better for you and was this better for me? Like I have always thought the best case scenario is that this somehow gets worked out. Now, if this is, you know, one of the things that has been brought up locally that has not been brought up all that much nationally is, and maybe it will if there is a trade or whatever,

you know, I mean, you usually end up seeing all of the dirt come out. But there's a lot of people that feel like this all goes back to because he was given a chance to bury the coach in that press conference and he didn't. And he was like, yeah, coach is cool. You know, we've had our ups and downs or whatever, like ups and downs, meaning I called him out publicly and got suspended for one game, but whatever. Like, but it all goes back to him not getting a contract extension in the off season, right? This is what happened with Trey Young. This is what happened with Jimmy Butler once upon a time. Like, always follow the money. And so it's like, you moved hell and high water and you took care of

Desmond Bain and you gave him a max contract. And then you moved off of guys and cleared the so that you could make sure you gave Jaron Jackson Jr. a max contract, and you took care of Santi Aldama in the offseason, and I'm the one here, and I didn't get take care of. Now, my opinion would be you need to have some self-awareness, right? I don't think that even the most ardent John Morant or Grizzly fan thinks it would have been wise to give him a three-year $190 million extension, right? Nobody thinks that.

But the problem is he thinks that, right? Like, I mean, he looks at it and goes, everybody else got taken care of. I didn't get taken care of. And you may know, like in the offseason, he had Mike Miller, who was a former grizzly as his agent. After he had left Jim Tanner after all of the Instagram stuff long ago, I mean, so he's had two like very significant agents. And he cut ties with Miller in the off season. And that was the end of that. And now he runs his own thing.

And his uncle is like basically his agent. And it's like I don't know. And so like if you wonder like why did he come into the season the way he has and he's always been not happy, like it feels like that could have been a real genesis. And there is no fixing that, right? Like the only way he was ever going to get that contract is to earn it. And he had objectively not earned it. Okay. Bruno, there's a lot of things I need to follow up on here.

Go ahead. Number one, I completely disagree that they will both regret this and that this is the wrong thing to do to trade John Morant. From a basketball, a business, and a vibes perspective, I just feel like we are inevitably headed there between the press conference and whatever that conversation was with Williams. Yes. Yes.

It is going to happen. It's going to happen for good reason. It is the best thing for both Jha and the Grizzlies is for them to no longer be in business together playing basketball. No, no, the best thing would have been for him to be playing available and awesome. We're past that. We're past that. We know.

We are past that part. We know. So I disagree with you. I think the best thing is for them to get as much of a return they could possibly get and for them to split ways and to Memphis do a bit of a reset. They have their own draft pick this year, correct? Correct. And they have Phoenixes.

Yeah, so perhaps. Who is unbelievably good? I mean, yeah, now Phoenix is going to be the three seed, so I forget. But I think that is what's best for them. And as someone who is as close to the franchise as you can possibly be, both as a fan as sort of like an employee of sorts, don't you also agree that it's just a matter of time until we get the news from Shams that he's been traded for 60 cents on the dollar.

And that will be best for the Grizzlies, because whatever's happening now is not helping. the team win. And I want to finish this by asking you, did you see what aforementioned Desmond Bain had to say about Taylor Jenkins? I did. And how do you feel about Bain, who was on the team like five months ago? Yeah. Six months ago, what he said about Taylor Jenkins and what that means about the way the players on the franchise feel about Tuomasi solo. I think that Bain was always a Taylor guy, and I thought that that team was, there's the one thing I always said about Taylor Jenkins.

Like there were, he is a great people person. You know what I mean? And he is one of those that, you know, I've referenced many times at one of the most significant quotes that was ever told to me was the late great Pat Summit. And she said, they never care how much you know unless they know how much you care. And he lived by that, right?

He was the guy that was like doing the team dinners and the kickball. Like a lot of these guys that came from Popovich and Budenholzer and they all kind of have the same kind of M.O. And they cared deeply. Like when like when Jared Jackson Jr. won his defensive player of the year, Taylor Jenkins and his kids showed up at Jaron's house within five minutes. Like that's the kind, like it's not a, it was family to him, not business to him, right?

And so the idea that guys would miss Taylor Jenkins or love Taylor Jenkins is wildly unsurprising to me. And I think that, I think that Desmond Bain will always swear by him. You know, it's interesting because he's done that twice this year. And the first time magic fans took it as a slight to Mosley. this time it's a slight to, I just think Deisbein loves Taylor Jenkins, right? I think that is. And I also think that he sees what's going on with Morant. And I also think that this is like field day for every former grizzly. It's already happened this year. You know, when the things have gone bad,

Marcus Smartest at his piece, Jake LaRavia, Dylan Brooks, Desmond Bain, right? Like, this is all like, you know, this is, this is a feast season when things were good and now they're not good, then you can look at it. You can say, well, things are good when you had me, right? Things are good when you had the guy I liked. And so I don't know, I think that's more about, I think that's more about Taylor and the impact he has on players. So before we move on, because we can't spend the entire episode talking about John Moray and the Grizzlies because no one cares. but um you need to get on the internet no one cares yeah we're not talking we're not talking about jock landau here okay don't tell me nobody cares i wish you could tell my cell phone

nobody cares i would love i would love to have an auto response nobody cares that would have been great for me for the last week when do you expect to see a deal done and what out of 100, what are the chances that he plays on the Grizzlies past the deadline? Oh, past the deadline? Yeah, past the deadline. What are the chances out of 100? Zero, right? No, I mean, two.

Because there is a world in which they just don't get offered a deal, which is acceptable. And they keep him on the roster through the rest of the season and try to move in the off season for a better deal. They're like one of those, like they're so measured. I do not think, this is my opinion. I do not think you're going to look up and you're going to go, oh my God, he got traded for that the same way you did, C.J. McCallum and Corey Kisper.

And I know that there is a general sentiment that that's his value now. But I'm telling you, they won't accept that that's his value now. Okay. You know what I mean? So it's not a 0% chance. No, no, no. I don't think there's a long line of teams that are looking to get into a bidding war for John Moran's services.

I, all you need is two. Okay. You know what I mean? All you need is two. And they'll have to. So, but it's just a matter of if the deal stink, I would be shocked if they did it. Do they not play him until he's moved for injury risks? You know, that's a fascinating one because of the Adam Silver comments.

Does Adam Silver say, come on, guys, like, we're in NBA. We're trying to get this European thing going. You just said him out of Berlin. We're in London. There's no question. And he also made it very clear he was disappointed that he didn't play. Mm-hmm. And, yeah, I don't know.

I mean, if he plays, it's because Adam Silver had a say in it. I mean, that's what I'd guess. We'll get to the basketball now. The fact that both Wagner brothers played for the magic, I found noteworthy because Franz hasn't played in months. I bet Franz was ready like last week. And he decided to save it until the Berlin game. Well, mom and dad were also in the crowd, too. And grandma.

A lot of camera time for Ms. Wagner. The fun, listen, the father's, it was their day. It was Dirk in the Wagner's day. Wait, we buried the lead. Anthony Black dunked on the entire grizzly team with, in a 103, 103, 103 game with like less than five minutes to go, Anthony Black dunked on every, four of five grizzlies got done simultaneously. That is the season in a nutshell.

Yes. I think it was a microcosm. It's a microcosm of the grizzly season. And then 80% of the players on the floor attempted to do something and failing. And then everybody on the magic took turns. And then I think he called Santiago deem a bitch and as did

Franz Wagner. I think everybody just called him a bitch. Like for five straight minutes, the magic were just calling Santiago a bitch. It was terrible. It was terrible. Just a disaster. in Berlin. It really was. How you say bitch in German?

I don't know. We need to know. Yeah. In London, we won't have those problems. We'll be able to tell. But, I mean, look, the magic put the screws to the Grizzlies down the stretch. That, the way that arena looked and the enthusiasm that was in that crowd, the crowd looked awesome. Like, if, I will say the NBA does well with this, like they can make something look like a big event.

If you turned that on, it visually looked like a big event. a very big event that was going on. This NBA Europe game in Berlin. I know that there's a huge segment of our audience that probably wasn't able to see it as it was going on at 1 o'clock central 2 p.m. Eastern. But if you did tune it in, it was unbelievable. And it was prime time, you know, obviously in Europe. But yeah, it looked great. The court looked awesome. The crowd was like lit. It was, it was good. Well, they stacked the deck. I did not. know that De Silva was German. Me neither. I had no idea.

I mean, I guess I just assume he was like from Spain or something because De Silva is his last name. Right. But I don't know he was German. He doesn't look particularly German. Like the Wagner brothers are named Wagner and they look German. It's like, okay, those guys are German. But if you put, they did a good job of sending this particular roster to Germany.

And thank God, Franz and Moe were both healthy. Because it gives the crowd something to root for. And when you have a close game, when the team that the home team is rooting, the home crowd is rooting for is down by 20, comes all the way back, and then takes the lead with an explosive dunk with two minutes left. It's kind of perfect if you're in the NBA, especially if you're trying to get business in Europe. Yep. And that Anthony Black dunk is forever. Like, well, let me tell you something. If you were, to see something for later, it's in my loaths. I'm going, I'm going the other way on this Anthony

Black tongue. That's ridiculous. Because I will tell you, people in Germany, are going to be talking about that dunk for the next. He is going to be the biggest deal in Germany for the next. I can't imagine the amount of Anthony black jerseys that are sold today on NBA.com. I mean, people are going to be on their grand. There are so many pun jokes I want to make right now, but I can't. They're going to say, but for the next three decades, people are going to be saying they were in that arena for that dog. The mismatch is brought to.

you buy Fandul. Fan Duel's putting you in control right from Tip Off. That's right. You get to choose your reward. You want to play it safe? Go for it. Feeling bold, that's your move. Whatever your style, you're in control.

No matter how you play, Fandals giving you the power to choose your reward and own your game this NBA season. Head to Fandul.com slash mismatch to make your pick. Get in the game and play it your way. Remember, you must be 21. or over and present in select states or 18 or over and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Opt-in is required. Rewards are non-withdrawable.

Restrictions apply, including bonus and token expiration, leg requirements, and max-wager amount. See terms at sportsbook.fandle.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800-gambler or visit RG-Hashhelp.com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. move on to the next game before I get fired. I want to say so many things right now. Please don't. Please don't.

All right. Last night, settled in and watched OKC versus the Rockets. And look, we went through the span of, oh, my goodness, are they going to be the 2016 Warriors to, oh, wow, there's actually a team that's even better than them who owns them to now, as things have settled down a little bit. I mean, just we, you and I on Tuesday night watch them trash the spurs. It wasn't even a fun watch.

No, not fun to watch. And then they turned around last night and trashed the rockets. And it's like, okay, this feels like a reestablishment has kind of gone on over the course of this past week. And am I out of bounds saying, boy, that rockets last night, that looked like last year's sons. that's what that felt like. Oh, I like that. Yeah, it did. You know what I mean?

Obviously, Katie's in a different uniform, but I mean, that was in the mud. Like, it was like, okay, we're going to guard, we're going to make life hell on Shengoon. We're going to make life hell on Durant. Go ahead. Well, the game was close for the first half in part of the third quarter. The Thunder were leading throughout, but there's always four points, six points. eight points. They were always within striking distance. And like you said, Shangoon didn't look good. Katie didn't look good. The only thing that kept the rockets in this game is they had like

50 more possessions than the thunder. Correct. Like the thunder still cannot rebound. And when you have a team as big as it's focused on offensive rebounds as the rockets, they're going to keep it close. But the the thunder defense looked like the thunder defense that we were talking about through October and November. They were just not giving up anything aside from offensive rebounds. And you see the size of a lot of the guys that the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the team. and then, I mean, I don't know.

What, what is the difference of, uh, broad shoulders? Chet doing the shirtless interview with Amazon prime last night. I mean. I loved it. It is not, you know, that is, that is not broad shouldered. Let's just say. I would wear a shirt. I thought Chet played great.

I thought Chet did. But one thing I loved about Chet, he said, he said, the team plane is waiting. Because, you know, you've been around teams long enough to know that on the back to backs, sometimes they don't even shower. They're trying to get to the next city as soon as possible. So he had an excuse. He's obviously, you know, he's in shape. And, you know, it was above the nipples, the framing of the camera.

I support the shirtless interview. Really? I support it. Yeah. Okay. Why not? Well, look, and Haslom is trying to get him a, Haslum's trying to get him a defensive player of the year award.

Certainly made that clear last night. Let me ask you this. Should, this is from Kelly Ico's article that came out this morning, okay? You ready for this? A little over a month ago, the Rockets were second in the West with a 15 and 5 record. They have gone 8 and 10 are currently losers of 5. their last seven, have a bottom 10 defense and as of the new year are 28th in offense, that they even sit in sixth place, 23 and 15, half a game outside of the play in is a miracle

and testament to sheer individual talent on the roster. That is rough. Yeah, they have been this is a team that you really liked for a large portion of the season. Hell yeah. Are you officially concerned or no? Yeah. Do you think this is a bad patch or do you think that like, whoa, this is alarming to have since the start of the year to have the 28th ranked offense and a bottom 10, this is, it's alarming.

It's alarming. What's happened? Yeah. Relatively healthy as well outside of Van Bleet. I think it's easy to point to Van Blit and sort of the rack, the lack of Reed Shepherd. There's a few weeks where it seemed like Reed Shepherd had established himself is sort of like the guy that they need in that position, but he's not currently. And this is, I think that this, unlike the thunder sort of like swoon of, you know, two and a half weeks,

this seems much more significant. The team that hung their hat on defense, the team that had two sort of like unstoppable offensive engines seems very vulnerable. And even that first game of the season that we saw them go to double overtime with the thunder. Do you remember that? That on opening night, it seemed like, oh, we have a real challenger to the thunder. Last night did not seem like a challenge for the thunder to dispatch the rockets on their home floor. I mean, when we started the season, I told you, I hate these teams that think they could just do point guard by committee. There is an organization that needs to take place with an offense. And I'm telling you, I watched them last night. I'm like, bro, this look, it looks so much like last

of your sons, where I'm like, okay, like, you want to, like, start the offense with KD. You want to, like, instead of running them around curl screens and getting them the ball and like reversing the ball and all of the things that organized the team, it was like, that was one of the worst fourth quarter teams in the, in the NBA last year, yet they had Kevin Durant, and they had Devin Booker and they had Brad Beal and they had, you know what I'm saying? And it's like, this team was a mega disappointment. And you watch it last night. And I'm like, she's like those guys on amazon were saying they should go get chris paul and i don't disagree i think christ paul would actually help we'll talk about chris paul later because i got a pin in him

for our loves and lows but since january third they lost to the mavericks beat the suns in a close one they lost to the trail blazers that was the k that was the kd game that was the kd game winner we were watching that yes that um that uh booker had a chance to tie that's right and ben almost did and then they went back to back losses to the blazers and then lost to the kings, beat the bulls, lost to the thunder. And now this evening, on a back-to-back, they play the timber wolves.

Then they get the pelicans, the spurs, the Sixers, and the Pistons, and then they get to beat your grizzlies. But this is, you know, this isn't great right now. Not great. Other things that weren't so great were the Lakers getting run out by the Hornets. The Hornets are one of these teams

that we have talked about before. Like when they have had their four guys, like when they've had Cinnipple and they've had Miller and they've had Bridges and they've had ball, like they can go out there and like obviously they have Kyle Sexton coming off the pitch. Like that was, they're certainly not in, that Hornets team when they have health

is not like, they are much more like, say, Portland than that. they are like Utah or Washington or some of the teams that we are certain that are going to be in the lottery, right? Like there's, there's a difference in possible lottery teams and they are the, if you want to take, if you're not going to take them with the utmost seriousness, you might get run out by them because they have, they have a lot of young talent and obviously when it comes together and the ball's bopping around and they're all getting 15 to 25 points. it can look pretty great.

This is like, you know, this is a, the Lakers get ahead early. They have a great first half. Luke is on fire. They're at home. It just feels like, oh, we got this one in the bag. And then Lamello had three points in the first half in 27 in the second half. And I stopped paying attention to this game. I was like, okay, Laker win, whatever, put in my notes.

And then I started looking at the NBA app. I was like, I think I got to turn this one back on. I know. Lamello went off. And it just feels like Lucas getting 30 points in losses. time and time again. When I saw a stat this morning, it was something like they've won like 60% of their games, but they have a negative point differential. Like they're doing like historically weird. They're having a historically weird season are the Lakers where it's like a negative

point differential, but their record does not indicate they are a team with a negative point differential. No at all. And it doesn't this team I think is just going to keep sliding. There's going to keep sliding along in the standings because their defense is just, it's just, there's nothing there. There's just, no one to stay in front of Lamello ball. There's no one to even slow him from doing whatever he wants in the second half. All right. Where are we at on the Knicks? It was Brunson less. So do we look at it and go, that's a game without Brunson or do you look at it and go, but why are you giving up 30 something points to Jimmy Butler and getting run out by Golden State?

I mean, I expected more after losing to the Kings. I thought after the King's loss, this was going to be one of those like, all right, we have a couple days, we're on the road, we're going to have some talks, we're going to really bring it against the Warriors team, which is, I would say, vulnerable. They're a good team, but they're vulnerable. And I, I don't, I, this is not new, but it can be very frustrating to root for a team that has Carlin Anthony Towns.

It can be very frustrating. He had some fouls. He had this one foul. He was his second foul. I think it was the first quarter where he just kind of got tangled up off the ball with Melton. And it was just like, it was weird. Their arms got tangled up. And it was to the point where they, they like, the refs had to make a call because they're tangled up.

And obviously the calls are going to go against towns. And it's off the ball. It's in the back court. It's just like, he gets so many calls that have nothing to do with defending the ball. And he gets another call where he just like hip thrust Draymond Green as he's driving for no reason, which you have to call if you're the ref. It was just like, it's so frustrating to watch. And the Knicks historically played pretty well without Brunson.

It's sort of like the Grizzlies without Jod. It's like for whatever reason the role player step up. It seems like they're more free on offense to get more opportunities. And I thought Deuce, who started for Brunson looked amazing. Like forget Tyler Covell. like Deuce McBride is awesome. Did your opinion of the Warriors change at all? If they can get this from Moses Moody, like that guy didn't miss threes.

He had seven. I don't know what. It's like seven for nine, seven for ten or something. Like he was just knocking everything down. If they're role players, because Moody, Pajemski, Pajemski looked awesome last night. Like, I think this is more of the warriors. I thought the Knicks didn't play well, obviously, especially Carthony Towns. but like this is the blueprint if you are the warriors.

Do you think they could get anything for comminga? Yes. You do. Yes. Just a young athletic wing player and that there's always going to be teams that were willing to take a chance on that, especially at a non-punitive contract. If you're a front office and you're looking at guys that can potentially be available, there are obvious reasons to not dedicate the time of research,

the resources and roster spot and salary to bring on an Anthony Davis or a John Morant because of the health questions, right? But if you're having a meeting about potentially bringing in comminga, it wouldn't take you very long to convince yourself that he has been done wrong by this franchise, and he has not given the opportunity to succeed that we would give him here. And you could cherry pick stats to make him seem like an all-star, who's just, who's been suffocated by a coach that didn't want him in the first place. You see the thing this week about, oh, like, oh, Steve Kerr actually wanted Franz Wagner.

Do you see that? Yeah. That's so easy to say after the fact. You know what I mean? It's like, oh, he actually never wanted James Wiseman either. It's like, okay, like after the fact, it's very easy to be right about drafts. I will say that he is a story of when, you know, And I talked about this a couple of weeks or in the off season.

We were talking about the comming a thing. Like he's always been a lake up guy. I will never forget how bizarre that press conference was when he got drafted. And they asked him about his meetings with Steve Kerr. And he said, I've never met Steve Kerr. And I thought that was the weirdest thing ever. But he had gone out to dinner with Joe Lake up. Like that's just odd.

So I do kind of buy that Steve Kerr never wanted him and the owner just drafted him. you know what I mean like he never even met him it's just it was strange people could go find it that happened it was weird when it happened and never underestimate a coach's resent um oh yeah years ago there was a guy there was a guy I was covering uh I was I was covering a game and Dave Yeager was the head coach at Memphis and he wanted, I mean, everybody knew. He wanted Rodney Hood. That's who we wanted. He wanted Rodney Hood.

And they didn't take Rodney Hood in the draft. And Rodney Hood was playing for, I believe, Utah at the time. And Rodney Hood came in and just lit it up. And this dude went to his press conference and spent five minutes talking about how awesome Rodney Hood is. And it was like, he's still mad. He's always going to be mad. Right?

He's always going to. We were like, come on, dude. Let it go. Like, I think they took Jordan Adams that year, who ended up having a very short career. But he was like, like, once, what's Rodney Hood came in and like scored a bunch of points? It was like, this is the salvo. He used the press conference. And I think that I think that I think you probably got off on the wrong foot immediately for

Comingo with Steve Kerr. And here we are, you know, these years later and it never. But it was so weird last year. He was getting DMPs during the Rockets. Yeah. Rocket series. And then Steph gets hurt in game one of the Minnesota series. And then game two, I just looked it up. Camingo was like eight for 11 from the field. Right. and had 18 points. Well, and then had some pretty good games when Curry went out of the Minnesota series. That's exactly what I'm saying.

It's like the game two. Curry went out of game one against Minnesota. Game two is eight for 11 from the field for 18 points. And if you look at this team, this old unathletic slow team, it's like what they need is Jonathan Kaminga. Like I've talked too much about coming in. Yep. And, you know, Pistons beat the suns.

Pistons just keep on rolling. I mean, we're going to look. up. We are now, like, to the midway point of the year. And I mean, good grief. What if I would have told you that we would be at the midway point almost exactly of the NBA season? In fact, they have played 39 games. I guess 41 would be the exact midway point, but that the pistons were sitting there and they're 29 and 10, 29 and 10 through the first 39 games of the season. Like they have gone from a, hey, they played the Knicks tough in the playoffs. And this year, you know, probably won't be a top four seed, but there's certainly

going to be a consistent playoff team going forward to, uh, yo, what is going on? This team is not slowing down, right? Like the same way Houston has slowed down and like there's been some kind of correction to what they truly are, you keep waiting for some kind of correction. to what they might truly be, and there is no, no correction has come. They have just consistently been able to turn out win after win after win and maintain this level of focus that is mega impressive and has got them at the top of the Easter conference.

I think what was significant about last night's win, I mean, obviously the, if you didn't see it, the sons were playing without Booker. Right. So, you know, it's a completely different thing when you don't have Devin Booker in a one-star system. But what I thought was significant about this win for the Pistons. against a good son's team was Cade was pretty bad, dude.

Like, Cade was not himself. This was a close game towards the end. And Cade is like one of my favorite clutch performers. It just seems like in the last, in any sort of clutch situations, it seems like he is absolutely money. He missed a couple pretty easy shots for him down the stretch in this one. And, you know, I think for them to get a win against a good son's team, when their guy, their All-Star, their main guy has one of his worst games of the season,

was encouraging if you're a business firm. Other ones that are worth matching, the Celtics beat the heat. So that's one of certainly one of their peers. And they were able to get back out track and get a win. Spurs, you got scared with the Wemby knee to knee. The shaven head, Wemby, him and Keldon Johnson, I guess cut each other's hair. I saw this media availability where they were, where Kelden Johnson talked about how they decided to go pull. involved together and that Wembe is evidently amazing at shaving people's heads.

Oh. Yeah, Kelton Jontz had said that. Yeah. Like, what is he? What can this guy not? Oh, great head shave. Yeah. I guess I'm starting to really not like this guy. I don't even know why. It just seems like everything about him rubs me the wrong way now. You had, uh, the Mavs beat the jazz. Clay Thompson moved to four. He did. Clay looked good. Yeah, well, no Cooper flag. And Clay moved to fourth. all time on the three-pointers list. In fact, he is now behind Steph Curry, James Hardin, and Ray Allen,

and ahead of he passed Damien Lillard for fourth all time on three-pointers made. Now, the reason that this is interesting is because he moved into fourth with 2,8005, which is just an extreme number, obviously. one ahead of Damien Lillard, who is not playing this year. And is behind Ray Allen and is about 900 or I'm sorry, about 170 behind Ray Allen. What is shocking is James Harden has like 3,200 in second.

Steph Curry, they said Clay Thompson had moved into fourth. And with 2,8005, three-pointers, moved ahead, one ahead of Damien Lillard. And then, of course, the list gets posted. Bro, Steph Curry has 4,2003s. What? I mean, I couldn't even do the math. How many threes you would have to make for... 1500.

1500. This is going to be like frigging Cy Young's 511 wins. I mean... Like, 4,200? He is... thousand ahead, almost a thousand ahead of James Hardin, who is number two. I just can't. It's hard for me to imagine a scenario in which someone passes Steph Curry because of the way the warrior's offense works and all of the offball work that Steph does to get

open because everyone knows that he is the greatest three-point shooter that ever lived. So they'd run him off the three-point line, which is why he has to spend so much time and energy cutting to the baseline, cutting back, running in circles around to finally get an open off balance three that he nails every single time. Like, I don't know what it looks like to pass it. Okay, quick math. So let's say there's 82 games. And let's just say you played all 82, which no one will ever do again. It doesn't seem like. But let's say you played all 82 and he did it for 10 years. Okay. And you hit five a game. It's 400 a season. Okay. 400 a season. Okay. You still wouldn't be. the number one three-point shooter of all time.

In fact, you would still be shy of Steph Curry's mark. If you played, we'll say, we'll say 80. Yeah. That's ridiculous. And in order to do that, you would have to hit five a game for 80 games. But after you hit five a game, your first three years in the league, guess what? You're on top of the whiteboard saying, right, this guy off the three point line. which is back to my point of the, I don't even know what it looks like to hit more than Steph

because of all the work and effort that Steph puts in to get what he's gotten thus far. Unbelievable. You know, it's crazy because this is one of those where a record gets broken and this always happens. So a record gets broken or a guy moves up on a list and then you see the list and what you're in awe of is not the record that just got surpassed. You're like, oh my God, he's got 4,200. That's stupid. Well, this is another thing that happened last time I want to talk to you about. Please.

And I am generally a hater and a negative person. Okay. So this like 20 point game street thing that SGA has going, he had like 14 and then he's playing in the fourth quarter. And it felt a little bit like everyone knew he had 14 and they got him to 20 and then took him out of the game. Oh, you got to keep that street going. Come on. It just felt like it was a concerted effort to keep that street going. Because as a Nick fan, I watched Miles Bridges ass.

Like, it was a jump ball. And he like in like the first whistle, he's out the game for the rest of the game. That's not playing as far as I'm concerned. Right. That was like when Draymond, remember when Clay came back from the injury and Draymond came because he wanted to be on the floor when Clay came back and then checked out of the game after the jump ball. Like, right.

I don't know, man. sometimes we're engineering these streets to stay alive. Oh, I mean, look, we just spent 20 years doing it with the LeBron streak. If it happens, you know, a couple times a year, right? Like, I mean, he's going to get his 10. It felt like they worked to get SGA his 20 yesterday. Yeah, you're hate. That's all I got to say.

You're heading. Of course they were going to keep that street going. Also, let's mention this one real quick before we get into our loves and lows of the week. You better watch out for the Blazers. you know that was my sneaky team before the season. They're cracking. And they didn't have Denny Obdiah last night. No.

And they put it. Shatin sharp, though. They put it on the Hawks and they've got Drew Holiday. Drew Holiday's been back for a couple of games. He's not playing big minutes yet. But, I mean, I kept telling you, like, they're kind of holding the fort down without a point guard. And now that they, you know, they hadn't had Drew and they haven't had Scoot for the

majority of the season. Yeah. And they got good players, man. Denny didn't play last night who's going to be an all star. And Klingin's like a totally reliable double double. And it's like that team is like go look at the standings. They they made that big push in the second half of last year. It won't shock me at all if you see them consistently moving up the standings. That's one that certainly keep an eye on is this Portland team. Because they, you know, much like the sun's like they put out more often than that, they give you a

honest effort and they will defend you. And then they've got some offensive players that can win one-on-one matchups on a pretty regular basis. Yes. Denny and Sharp are all the offense you need to. I mean, I love to money, Kamara and Klingin. I mean, Klingin will ring protected. Kamar will cover your best wing player. Yep. You know, and, uh, and Drew is a diminished defender, I'll say to be nice, but he can still stay in front of somebody. He can still organize a team too. Yeah, and he can organize a team and play the point card role, especially we got a bunch of young scores and sort of like people finding where they're, they fit in the league and what their spots are and what they're best at. And he'll get you there. I love this team too. It's going to be really awkward when Chauncey Billups tries to get his job back in a couple months. Well, look, when these teams, Chanty Phillips, you said you were going to leave your kids too. I forgot about that. Shatty who ever found that clip, Uncle Chonzie.

There's a lot of teams that are slowing down as we get, you know, to this midway point of the season, they're ramping up. Yes. They're going to the opposite way the rockets are going. Yes. Keep an eye on them because they look like they're going the right way instead of the wrong way. All right. I just wish the Knicks were. Loves and loads from the week.

Well, look, the Knicks, you can blame the NBA Cup, which I was upset. I'm so tired of blaming the NBA Cup. No, it's the NBA Cup's fault. It's a championship hangover. This happens to champions. Yeah. Good point. Good point.

Yeah. It's the disease of me, right? So fat riley called it. Yeah. All right. Loves of the week. All right. I'm going to start with the clippers.

So the red hot clippers deserve to be in the loves. They are currently half a game behind the Grizzlies for 10th place. That may have changed by the time we're reporting with the Grizzlies losing yesterday. Hardin and Kauai Leonard, who are obviously hoping to be part of All Star Weekend when it comes up, are making a run at this thing. They're on an 11 and 2 run. I know. Kauai Leonard is averaging 33, 7 and 2 and 2 a half steals a game. Hardin is averaging 25 and 8 a 6.

This quote, we talk probably more than anybody, Hardin said of Leonard. Once I see him flip the switch, it was like, okay, yeah, it's go time. That's the Kauai we need. My job is just facilitate. Get him going, get us going. So it's been a complete 180. And it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like this team that now has gone 11 to 2, we said they had the hardest schedule.

It was going to lighten up. Stick a pin in this. Like, you know, if they start playing better and the schedule starts getting lighter, this is a team that could obviously change their fortunes this year. But I don't think anybody saw this. Kauai Leonard best, like, how many people would have guessed that Kauai Leonard's best season ever was ahead of him? You know what I mean? Oh, well, no. He's had a good run here, Rerno, but we're not going to call this his best season ever, all right?

go look. He is having his best season ever. He is. Forno, he didn't play for two months. And he is playing well right now. But we'll, we'll wait until the spring is out and you're wearing shorts before we start calling this his best season ever. I'm telling you right through the first half of the season. Fair. He is having a career year. And that is not something anybody would have anticipated. Well, I also think you say the schedule will get easier. after Pablo Tori's act. Well, did you see the latest from Pablo?

What did he do that? What he's always got, he's always got, Pablo's always got like a couple little bullets in the chamber. He'll just like sprinkle out. He's Ivy dripping this whole like ascension thing. Oh, no. Aspiration. Yeah, aspiration, whatever it's called.

Yeah. The latest was that, you know, Uncle Dennis said he wanted a home. Right. So you've been to what is formerly called the state. Center currently called Crypto, which is where the Clippers played at the time. And I worked right there when I was at Grantland, and ESPN has a studio right there, so I spent a ton of time in that little plaza called LA Live. And in that plaza called LA Live, there's some hotels that they would put us at,

which are kind of across the street, not that nice. And then the famous people that would come to town, they stayed at the JW Marriott, which also, if you're really famous, you state at the Ritz. And attached to the Ritz is a residences. So there was a sale of an appraisal of an apartment. apartment on November 5th of a year to an LLC that was created in Florida on November 4th by Uncle Danis. And the sale was from someone somehow, some way associated with Bomber and the clippers and whatnot. So the whole demand of private plane available whenever I want,

guaranteed endorsement money and a home, which seemed insane at the time, it seems like the guaranteed endorsement money could have happened. And it seems like the home could have happened as well. Because this is a fancy, expensive apartment in the same complex where the Clippers play, which would be very convenient if you are in Kauai Leonard's family to happen. What scale of 1 to 10, how much credit should Pablo Tori get for Kauai Leonard's career year? Does this happen without that reporting? Ooh, I like this question. Scale of 1 to 10.

Let's go percentage like a pie slice. I'll do that. It's a little bit better. I'm going to say 20% probably 20%. The FU Kauai year. Yeah. It is at least 20% problem. I think I go higher.

You think so? Yeah. If that reporting never happened, he's probably like averaging 23 points a game and has played half the games. Counterpoint, counterpoint. If you go up to Kauilat right now, you're sitting next one on a plane and you're like, do you know who Pablo Torre is?

There's a part of me that he's going to be like, no idea who that man is. I don't even know what you're talking about. Tell me you saw the interview, the awkward interview with the playoff Kauai. Oh, yeah, of course. They asked him about playoff Kauai and he's like, I don't know what that is. I don't know what you're talking about. And he's like, that's just something like media comes up with names for stuff. And I don't even know what that means.

And they're like, yeah, it was actually. your coaches, your coaches said play off Kauai, whatever. It's like, yeah, I don't, I don't know what that is. I just play basketball. It's like, okay, you're impossible. You're impossible. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're impossible.

Weirdo. I love the Clippers, man. All right. They were never as bad as they were. Like, I think that there was really bad things going on behind the scenes with the whole Chris Paul thing and all of that just seems like bad vibes. So where am I, I meant my love. Yeah, first one thing I love.

My first one. Like I find Kauai to be kind of boring because I like, I like a lamello ball type of basketball player. Like a showman, someone who's a little crazy trying to make things look cool and is a little like sort of unhinged behind a microphone during a press conference, right?

That's a lamello ball. Kauai Linder is the polar opposite of that. Correct. And SGA, former clipper himself, has sort of like, he's very sort of the same, mature above his age. Yes. measured, Canadian, kind, nice.

One of my love from the last week, SGA's getting a little spicy. SGA's getting at least sticking his chest out a little bit. And I think that, you know, them losing a bunch of games, almost losing to your terrible grizzlies. And I think that all of the sort of noise about the thunder being vulnerable

and the spurs having their number because I know you saw during that Spurs game when he hit a shot on Stefan Castle, he was chirping and cursing all the way back when he was peddling back on defense. And I haven't seen that from SGA and I loved it. And after the game, what did he say? This is not our Super Bowl. And then I'm watching the game last evening and he's at the foul line. And Kevin Durant likes to, he just likes to chat.

Kevin Durant doesn't run from any smoke. He likes to chat. And at some point, the camera catches SGA on the foul line, where he often is, look right at Kevin Durant and say, enjoy that seven seed to KD. So we got. Tough. It's tough. Talking to Castle on the way back, talking greasy, like aggressively. This is not our Super Bowl in the press conference and telling Kevin Durant, future Hall of Famer, top 10 player of all time, whatever, argue, who cares, top 15, enjoy that seven seat.

I love this week. This is spicy SGA. The evolution of Shea Gildjus Alexander, you love. Yes. Yes. I like him. Just show me a little aggressiveness. Show me a little competitiveness.

Show me a little emotion. I like it. Enjoy the seven seed. It's tough. I like it. That's tough. I think it's tough seed right now too. They might have moved on the seven after the loss last night.

My first loathe, the absurd AD stories. So it was last week we were on this show. and you and I had both watched the end of the Mavs and Utah. And I said, hey, Jacoby, it's time for tinfoil verno. And I said, I was watching that game. And we had just spent the entire day reading stories leak out about how Anthony Davis did not want to be traded. And his attention was to try to want to sign long term with Dallas, right? And that was the stories all day.

And then we're watching the game and we're like, wait, what happened? And he starts grabbing his finger and he goes out. And I said, boy, tinfoil verno immediately texted you and said, man, he really doesn't want to get traded. And then it comes out. I'm going to read this to you. Okay. Okay. So Shams Sharania puts out Dallas Mavericks Anthony Davis is likely to undergo surgery to repair his left hand and miss. several months. His Dallas season is essentially over, given the prognosis and the MAV's direction. Seems pretty clear. Cut and dry, right? Then it was update. Dallas is Anthony Davis will not require surgery on his injured hand. That's from Schaum's. After a second opinion. And basically, uh, you know, look at him in six weeks, but opens the trade market back up. Maybe, hey, like, it's like, okay, bro. Like,

do you think I'm crazy? I, so you know this fed into exactly my conspiratorial thought at the very beginning, right? Where it was like, oh, okay, you ain't trading me,

home boy. I'm not going anywhere. You know what I mean? And then it's like this realization that like, hey, man, they are probably going to trade your ass. And like,

Now you're not going to get your like extension there. And so you might be better all like somebody talks to him and said, you might be better off if you get traded somewhere else that is going to want to give you an extension. And so the fingers, it ain't that bad. It's not that bad. No, no, no. Because they said, they told me it wasn't that bad. Who told you that?

They told you that surgery. No, no. He's re-evaluated in six weeks now. He doesn't need surgery. Well, not only that. No, no, he went from his season is over. He needs surgery. And very specifically, he's out till after the trade deadline and is going to need surgery.

And his season is in jeopardy. But also, no, so Shams said his Dallas season is over. Yes. Which is, which is it, that Dallas is, that now is working really hard. It didn't say his 2025, 2026 season is over. His Dallas season is over. And then it went to six weeks. Well, just do the math.

That ain't that far after the trade deadline. Not only that. Like, right after Sean's reported this, Anthony Davis himself takes to the internet and says, quote, y'all better stop listening to all these lies on these apps, exclamation point,

exclamation point. And there's another report of him missing several months. And Anthony Davis response to that, lies, exclamation point. So why would Anthony Davis be so much? motivated to prove that he's ready to play basketball soon. What? And there is a one in one billion chance.

Shams got a clutch story wrong. Just the choms. What are you talking about? Like there, how do I say this nicely? Shams is not in front of his keyboard making things up. You know what I mean? Like he's not. It's not, I mean, listen, I, you know, I don't know him that well personally.

but like I he I I trust that Shams when he reports something got it from a source. So who is motivated to say that Anthony Davis needs surgery? Right. Who? Right. Who's motivated to say that's a lie. Right. Anthony Davis.

Right. And his agent. Well, no. I think it was a colleague of ours. I think it at the ringer. I think it changed. I think the circumstances changed. It was I don't want to get traded.

I want to be here. And then you realize like, bro, it doesn't matter. Like, you're not, even, even with an injury, they still might move you. And they're not going to give you an, and they're not going to give you a match extension. They're not going to give you an extension. Like you're getting that extension that you,

and that's been leaked. Well, they might offer an extension. For sure not. They might, no, I'm an extension. Oh. It's just not going to be anything close to the Anthony Davis wants. Right. Or what is market price?

And so then the, then you've got to recalal and all of a sudden the finger's not that bad after all. I don't even think I'm pinfoil anymore. The whole thing, like the succession of reporting was ridiculous. It was sloppy. It's sloppy and it shows that the Anthony Davis and the Mavericks are not in the same page. And when that's the case, it generally leads to Anthony Davis and the Mavericks. And there'll be somebody out there.

He's like, no, no, no, no, no. He actually saw another doctor and the doctor. Like, okay, then who was the first doctor that said, no, man, this. see, sir, like, come on, shut up. Shut up. Seriously. This is, this is goofy. I'm too smart for you. I'm too smart for you since Chris Vernon.

I'm the one with the brains. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Go ahead. All right. First loathe. I mean, this is going to be my loath, just kind of in perpetuity. This is just, this just pisses me off so much. Oh, no. We have an update on the Insights to Excellence project that MDC is using with their special correspondent Michael Jordan.

And here's the update. Mike Tariko, who sat down with Michael Jordan for about an hour, the special court assignment for NBC. And they chopped that up and gave us some cliched trophy topics about load management and the three-point shot ruining the game and whatever else. And he gave his cliched answers that every guy in their 40s and 50s gives when they played in the NBA.

And it was worthless. No insights to any excellence. Guess what? Now we have an update. This is what they announced on May 12th of 2025. quote, we're thrilled to welcome Michael Jordan as a special contributor to the NBA on NBC and Peacock. God damn it, I was excited during May of 2025.

Me too. Until we all know what happened then. And here's the latest from Mike Tariko. And I quote, was it when everyone wanted? Probably not. Was it better than not hearing from Michael Jordan? You're damn right it was.

And if we get another shot at it, will I be more than excited to be part of it? You bet you. So now we don't even know if we're getting a second interview with special contributor to NBA on NBC. We're going to, and we didn't cover any ground in the first insights to excellence. And now it's up in the air whether or not it happens again. And I, he's probably getting paid still by NBC to do nothing. This Michael Jordan thing has been fumbled so heavily by NBC.

And no one's talking about it because everyone doesn't want to talk bad about Michael Jordan. everyone's so scared to criticize Michael Jordan, but this sucks. And he's going to do one more interview like before the playoffs about the round one matchups and maybe one more before the finals. And we'll get no insights to excellence. We'll get no. I know this is your pet thing. I'm not.

I'm stopping you. We're just going to get canned taped bullshit from Michael Jordan. I'm out. All right. Look, I know this is your pet thing, but I'm stopping you here. Because I want, look, if you tell me. Here's the test, Jacoby. Here's the test.

If you tell me, after this break, we're going to hear from Michael Jordan. I'm on team Tariko here. I will sit there and watch it, and I will tune in. I may not like it. I may not think it's of great value. But if the goal is to get me to watch, I am much more likely to watch if you tell me coming up next,

Michael Jordan. And so I am on team team. Dorico, it's better than than not hearing from him. No. Yes, it is. You reminds me of the Barnum and Bailey Circus, P.T. Barnum, one of the famous things he did is that they have all these tents that you would walk through.

At the end of each tent, there's this huge sign. This is the great egress. And it had an arrow. So you go to the next tent. At the end of the next tent, it says the great egress. So you're always getting teased of this great egress that is coming. Do you know what egress means in the English language?

Uh-uh. Exit. So we're going to get teased at coming up after this we're gonna get insights to excellence from michael jordan and then you just never get it we're getting we're getting played like p t barnum used to play people that he invited i agree it is not what any of us wanted it to be i also agree it's better than not hearing from it at all because at least you can hate watch it well i look forward to it you know i mean i mean you you get to mention it and how much you hate it so can we just unversed One big NBC day. Can we get this guy in the studio to sit there for five hours?

Like it's not that hard work. I agree. Next one. My next love, the NBA Europe thing. So I thought it was super cool. The Berlin game yesterday. Obviously, I was watching the entire thing. The people that were texting me that were in the arena were like,

this is unbelievable. He's like, you have no idea the amount of enthusiasm. enthusiasm there is. It feels like a huge event. Like being in the arena felt like you were at a huge event. On TV, I thought it came off like it was a huge event. And I thought that they put on a, it was, they put on a really good show. They're obviously doing one on Sunday in London. Um, between the two. But beyond that, you know, they, they used the podium, uh, Silver using the podium to talk about these plans for NBA Europe and Fiba and, and, um, between the two. And, you know, they used the podium. Uh, silver using the podium to talk about these plans for NBA Europe and FBA and, you know, putting together a league there and the NBA having involvement, whatever else. And I will just tell you that first in my career, when first it was Powell Gasol and he came to Viviss, I realized at that point very early in the internet age, what level of interest there was from around the globe for, you know, for, for, for NBA basketball. And that has continued. And then throughout the years of doing this show, there have been times where, like, we'll do mailbags during the summer or

something like that. And I, I mean, I've heard from like 25 countries, easy. Oh, yeah, easy. I mean, it is such a global phenomenon. And, like, part of the reason that this podcast has been successful is because of people all around the world. So the idea that, like, there would be an NBA sanctioned league overseas that would be on TV and you've got all these fans. I don't think we can undersell how many fans there are globally. You watch that yesterday. That's in Berlin. That's in Berlin, Germany yesterday. And that place is slammed. And they are lined up outside to try to get in whatever. You're going to see it again in London, you know, coming up over the weekend. And so I like that there will be a connection to European basketball that like then has

the NBA's involvement, which also then has like broadcast rights and like that I'm excited to see where that can go. And I think I feel much differently about it than maybe I would have years ago simply because I know how many people care so deeply and rework their schedules around the globe to watch NBA games and then you watch something like that yesterday and you see how what a big deal that is for that game. I love the idea of the NBA having like a part of of FBA in in Europe and that there being another league that's going on over there. And I'm excited about it. I actually think that's super, super fun. I'm curious about the details because they haven't given us very much details. They just tell us like they're interested in starting a league.

with FIBA in Europe. Yes. Now, we're of an age where we remember the NFL did this. And what they did is they started a new league with existing cities and it did not work. No. Right. But what I think what they're proposing and they haven't announced this, which I think will work, is sort of like a soccer club model or football club model where it's like these are existing teams.

some of the major sort of players in European basketball, like Olympiacos and whatever, like the Madrid team and the Barcelona team and the Berlin team and Munich team and blah, blah, blah. So if it is like sort of a 12, one of the models they propose is sort of like having a 12 permanent teams, like the 12 most prominent popular existing clubs.

Yes. And then four sort of like you can quote, qualify in every year clubs in a 16 team league that is in addition to what is already occurring in Eurobasket in Euroleague. That sounds interesting to me. Now, can NBA players play? Probably not. No, we don't know.

What season does this happen in? Is this a tournament or is this a league with a regular season and then playoffs? Where does it stand within the G League universe? Like there's a lot of things that you want to. On the other hand, I think getting a connection to the European basketball and also that being NBA sanctioned is super cool. I think so too. I think it'll work in a way that it didn't with football. I think so too because I think that football tried to create a new league.

But I think what the NBA is doing is partnering with existing commodities and sort of elevating them and organizing them and presenting them to basketball hungry American audience. during the summer is what I imagine what this is. That's what I imagine this is. And they'll figure it out. They're smarter than I am. What are we on loads? No, your next love. My next love.

Oh, I love this. The Celtics, at the end of a comeback against the heat, there's 13.7 seconds left. Jason Tatum is in street clothes. He doesn't know, but the camera finds him. And he's talking to someone. someone off camera. And he says two words

that are very easily lip synced. I mean, lip red. And he clearly looks at someone off camera. At the end of a close game and a comeback with 13.7 seconds left and he looks at someone off camera and he says, I'm

ready. And this is like Dame Lillard out for the season. Tyrese Halliburton out for the season. But for whatever reason, it really feels like Jason Tatum is coming back to a team that without him has been very successful in a conference which does not have a dominant team, which, you know, the business fans can argue with me about that, but that doesn't seem like a, I'm not penciling them into the finals right now.

And I love the idea that this Celtics team, this Cinderella overachieving, like, little engine that could, could add an MVP candidate and have a couple months, to ramp up before we even see him in the playoffs. It's awesome. What if he was talking about dinner? That would be disappointing. I do not believe he was talking about dinner. I just wanted to throw that out there.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he was kind of like, we're ahead. This game is over. Why are you calling timeouts with 13.7 seconds left? I'm ready to go to dinner. The reason I joke about that is because please tell me you saw that goofy-ass report yesterday. A source close to Morant said the kerfuffle with Vince Williams was a

about finding a place to eat? Okay, because I actually thought it was when I first saw the lip sync thing. For sure not. I don't know what they're talking about. When William says, let's go to the back. Does he mean to fight or to talk out of the, like, out of the way of all these prying eyes? When, when John did the crotch grab, that's a, that's like, oh my God, they're about to square up. But when John is not here for five minutes, what does he mean?

Right. Like, I don't understand that. He's saying, talk to me, talk to me. Yeah, it's like, don't walk away is what he's trying to say, right? Yeah, right. I don't know what the hell is going on there. But it's definitely about dinner plans. All right.

Next to loathe. Janus and the booing, that was just sad to watch it all play out the way it is. I mean, you got the Milwaukee fans. I mean, they're getting their ass kick up in Minnesota, and they all start booing, you know, during this game. And Janus starts booing back. and he's holding down the thumbs down. And then he says at the end of the game,

it doesn't matter said about being at home. I play basketball for my teammates. I put basketball for myself and my family. When people don't believe in me, I don't, I don't tend to be with them. I tend to do what I'm here to do, what I'm good at.

It won't change home or away. But yeah, I've never been a part of something like that before. And I don't think it's fair. I don't. But everybody has their opinion to do whatever they want. I'm going, I'm not going to tell them what to do

or how they should act when we don't play hard or when we lose games or when we're not what we're supposed to be. I don't think anybody has the right to tell me how I should act on the basketball court. I've been here for 13 years and I'm basically the all-time leader in everything. I'm basically, Yadis, you get big credit for that one. I'm basically the all-time leader in everything. So you can't tell me how to act. it's just also depressing when it gets to the point of, you know, the home crowd booing and Yonis booing back. And it's like, what do we do it here? This sucks. It sucks. It's it's just everything about it sucks. It sucks. It's hard to defend the fans. It's hard

to defend Yonis. Nobody ends up looking good in this exchange. And, and then, and then Doc comes out I was like, yeah, it looks like tired legs after that game. And you know, I was like, that's not an excuse. So it's kind of like going against the coach, going against the fans. Like this is, he's just going to get traded. This is the last time that he plays for the bucks. And every time I see like, oh, the bucks might try to add John Moran or whatever. What are we doing?

Like you've already, you've already stretched out Dame Lillard. Like you're going to do another all in trade to make a run for a championship with this roster. You're kidding me? That's also the interesting thing regarding Morant. possibly, you know, his desired outcome would be Miami. If you're Miami, you've got to be careful about that because that's who you want to take a run at, right? I'm saying, Janus. Oh, Janus?

Yeah, you don't want to move off of, you know what I mean? Like, you're going to need contracts and you're going to need stuff to be able to make that happen if it's a possibility. If I'm Pat Riley, that's the guy I want to go get. Yeah, I would never jeopardize a potential Janus for a John Moran. So you got to, you've got to calibrate that. in all of it. I'll tell you what. Starting to change my opinion about Janus to the Knicks. Starting to change my opinion about Yonest to the Knicks.

It sounds like somebody's watched Towns too many times. After all that. After all that. I'm starting to change my opinion. After all that. Starting to change my opinion. All right. Your next load.

This one's quick. I don't know if you saw this, but Kevin Hart and Keenan Thompson did an interview with Chris Paul. And they're like, hey man, like, you know, like, what's going on with your career or whatever. And he's just like, this is what he said, oh, man, quote, I'm working out and training every day, right? In all honesty, with the way all that stuff went down and all that, I think for me, and I just love this game so much that I don't want it to end like that.

I think Chris Paul deserves a better sunset to his career than whatever that was with the clippers. He'll get one. And there are tons and tons of unceremonious exit from the National Basketball Association that we forget, right? I mean, like, you know, like we all know the guys in the teams, the Sean Kemps and Pat Ewing's and all of that. But like, I just want Chris to play a game on the last day of the season and get a standing ovation and cry and be given the microphone and just have that happen. I don't care what city it's in or what uniform he is. wearing, but I don't want it to end like this. Well, and the crazy thing is, is you would think of him as a clipper, right? That's what he was the leader of the Lob City. I don't think that's

an option anymore. But it's all going to be weird no matter what. Because of the clippers, like, and Chris Paul's contract. I'm like, is that still a thing? You're allowed to do that. Because it felt like, all right, I'm signing back with the home team for one last year. You know, it would be like if Mike Conley came back to Memphis at the end, if Kyle Lowry went back to Toronto at the end. It seemed right. Yeah. One last round. And at the time, they seemed like a championship contender. And the thing just went to hell. Yeah. You're right. All right. My last love. Oh, and you're going to love this as a guy who helped get this show off the ground. The Rich Paul controversy. God, I love it. Oh, I love it. Oh, I love it. Game over the pod that he and Max

Kellerman do. You've got him throwing a wrench into the, like, the Austin, Reeves, Jared Jackson Jr. Salvo that he throws out talking about how they should trade Austin Reeves. LeBron then having to come out and saying Rich doesn't speak for me. I love Austin. Bill Simmons in his last podcast answering a mailbag question of whether he put together that show as a Celtics fan to mess up the Lakers. Perfect. Everything about it. Oh, no. Oh, no, no. And Austin Reeves is agent, like quote, approaching Rich. So good. Like the Jets and the sharks of West Side Story. Like, like, you know, facing off, courtside and a Lakers game.

It's just every angle of this is so, um, just chef's kiss. Perfect. Perfect. Well, because, because on one hand, you're sitting there going, look, dude, if you're going to do a podcast, I'm sure you had this discussion. If you're going to do a podcast, you're going to have to talk like you would talk to your buddies. Like you're going to have to give your real opinions.

Well, here's the problem. He's one of the most powerful people in the, in the, in the. B.A. And when he gives his real opinions, people are going to be like, whoa, what? But it's, but why is that a problem? So good. Why is that a problem? I mean, it's a problem if you are, if you're Austin Reeves agent, it's a problem. Is it? What? So my problem with it is this is, wait, I don't think Jared Jackson is a good fit on the Lakers. That's my problem with the whole thing. I'm like, of all the bigs you could possibly bring into Los Angeles, let's get like, a rim runner roller type instead of Jared Jackson.

No, no, no. No, they're looking at it and going, here's a guy who won defensive player of the year. He can make up for the sins of slow feet don't eat on the outside. That's the thing there. You're going to have to find somebody that can block some shots and rim protect. And here's a guy. And then they see the Morant news.

And then they're like, well, maybe the other's going to a full rebuild. And so here's a guy that would be available. And that's a guy that would clean. up. So when, you just need somebody back there that's not DeAndre Aitner, or Jared Vanderbilt, that when somebody inevitably blows by Luca Donchich or LeBron James or the list of guys that don't want to defend for that team might block the shot. That's totally fair. I don't think Jared Jackson is a good fit for that team, especially with his contract. It's hilarious. It's hilarious. All of it is great. I mean, just the idea that because Rich Paul is an

agent that he's not allowed to be on a platform and express hypothetical trades about an NBA team is kind of silly to me. And the idea that he's like that we need to go to LeBron now and ask LeBron what he thinks. And he has to explain that Rich Paul is not my, not me. It's awesome. What do you think? What do you think Rich and LeBron's conversations off the air are like, I'm saying not in front of a microphone. When Rich says that and it goes viral, rule, do you think LeBron is calling him going, bro, you're not making my life easy? Like, you got to remember, I'm in a locker room with the guy all the time. And no matter what I say, they're going to think that that's how I feel, right? Or do you think he's going, yeah, I like

that? My honest answer is I don't know. I wonder. I don't know. But I don't think it's, you're not making my life easier. Please slow down. Because I think that he wants, Rich to pursue all opportunities in front of him. Okay. I don't think it's that. But I also don't think it's, yeah. Talk to your shit, Rich. I don't think it's that either.

You don't. No. I think they probably have a joke about it and a little laugh and just move on with their day and go golfing or whatever. Fair enough. I don't think it's that big a deal in their world, to be honest with you. I love it. I love it. Here we go.

Oh, this one's easy. Tuesday night my wife was supposed to go out to dinner. And she booked it in advance. She said January 13th and 15th, I'm going out. I was like, okay, fine, whatever. I'll take care of the kids. You know, she's got to go out sometimes. And you came to town January 13th.

I was like, oh, man, I can't hang with Ferno tonight. Oh, look, you and me are in the same boat. You have a calendar on your fridge? No, no. Okay, I have a calendar on my fridge. I have never written anything on the calendar. That's not for us. But the calendar. That's for you to read. You're not allowed to write on the car. Yeah, the calendar. The calendar is full, but I've never looked at it. And I've never contributed to it. Yes. The whole function of the calendar is so my wife can carve out time for her to do shit without the family. That is the only reason. It's not like, oh, we got to pick up Chloe from gymnastics or Quincy has to go to math tutor. Right. None of that matters. It's really, I'm going to dinner this night. I'm getting my nails done at this day. This Sunday I'm getting my hair done. Oh, by the way, me and such or such are going to drive to Boston on this.

It's all just like carving out time for herself. That's the whole function of her family calendar. But she carved out the 13th. I texted her that day. So are you going out tonight? She said, no. And I said, okay, Furno, me and you, New York City, let's do this. It wasn't much going on.

It's a Tuesday night. I'm also in the middle of dry January. I paused dry January for an evening to hang with Furno. It doesn't happen that often. So put a pause on that. I will not be, that will be no makeup game on February 1st, by the way. Just want to know, let's want the world to know that. that. And then we went to the Marquette St. John's game at MSG. Great seats. Great

seat. Great environment. Better game than we thought it was going to be. The Johnny's supposed to blow him out. But Marquette kept it, kept it close. We fell in love with Nigel James Jr. He was number zero on Marquette. Yep. We fell in love with Chase Ross. Number two. Number two with two big dugs. Yeah. I was like, these Marquette guys look like awesome. And I was not impressed by the potential pro on St. John's, this guy's Zubi. I was stunned. I will say, it was awesome to be in the garden. I certainly appreciate you taking me out there.

I was stunned by going to the garden and it feeling like, I guess I didn't know what I was speaking. So a lot of times you go to like games in like L.A. or New York, right? You go to the game and like, so I live in a small market. So I would say a very high percentage. of an audience is wearing fan gear, right? Like they're wearing grisly stuff or they're wearing Memphis Tiger stuff. Or they're, right?

Like, that's the, that's the uniform. Whereas when you go to, when you go to games in big markets, it's like guys that get off work, guys and suits. Like most people, even when we went to the Knicks game, like most people are not wearing Nick's gear. There's Nick's gear spread throughout. But even on that front row, no celebrities wearing Nick's gear. or nothing like that. And I felt like everybody in that whole damn place was wearing St. John's stuff,

except for us. Like, everybody was wearing St. John's. And then there was Marquette, like, alum. And so you saw people wearing Marquette stuff. But it was so striking to me to be in this environment. And, like, I saw at least a dozen Chris Mullen jerseys. It was just odd. I think there's an allegiance to your college that's different than allegiance to your protein.

Yeah. But they're like alumni just really, really like rep for their schools a lot. And I felt a vibe when number two did the first dunk, Vernal gets very excited. Let's out a gulp and a fist bump. And I'm kind of like, looking to my left and my right being like, Verno, this is not a Marquette crowd right here. This is the St. John's crowd. Everybody in our section and everybody in virtually every section was wearing red. Yeah.

And then the second dunk, Ferdot gets excited again. And then some heads start turning being like, who the fuck is this guy? Is he a Marquette guy? It was awesome. It was awesome. And St.

John's ended up putting the screws to him, you know, later in the second half for sure. But it's wild seeing Rick Petito on the sideline and St. Johns and all the... Do you think he dyes his hair? For sure. And all these people super into it.

It was awesome. I got swept up in it. Yeah. Yeah. And then we went. to a bar for the stupid Spurs Thunder game, which ended up being a dud. No, you were an amazing host. That was super fun. But the bar ended up being, we just ended up talking about nothing because the game was boring.

But had a great time. That's a great time. So here's a question for you. Yeah. I didn't ask you this at the time. Okay. So I wanted to walk Bruno back to his hotel, right? Berno, we get near his hotel.

And Verno starts hinting being like, yeah, yeah, like, I'm, you know, okay, I'm good from here. Like, I'll be all right from here. did you go back out after I left? Oh, for sure not. Oh, I was about to say because it seemed like you were like had an alternate plans. You were like, yeah, I'm close enough. Yeah, I got it from here, Jacoby. Well, that's because my, my hotel was like in an alley.

I wasn't going to make you walk up through the alley when your car was going to be coming to the outside. I'm there to protect you for no. You need protection. I was done. You're just a little babe, a little babe from the south. Trust me. I was done. I'm old.

Yeah, me too. Me too. It was too late for me already. I'm back on dry January. I feel better in the morning. No question. All right, my last load. Okay.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this because it just feels ridiculous. But the Dylan Brooks revisionist history, I can't do this anymore. Okay. He is playing great. He has been great for Phoenix. But hold on, hold on. Before you continue, I've, I'm all over the, the internet, anything that happens in the NBA sphere, I've jumped all over. But you need to

cash the people up to listen to the mismatch that might not be following Dylan Brooks's comments as closely as you think. I mean, basically that, you know, he went on to praise Houston. If you could trade Kevin Durant, you got to trade Carrick or Grant. You know, it's not like Memphis where they've fallen off, which by the way, Houston was like the two seed last year. As of reporting, they have kind of fallen off. But whatever. That's neither here nor there. And the grizzlies didn't fall off because they got rid of Dylan Brooks. The grizzlies fell off for a myriad of things. Most, most importantly, John Moran playing nine games the next year.

And then 50 games, the subsequent year, right? Like, I understand that those things happened in conjunction, but this revisit is history. And Phoenix will go through it too. Houston went through it last year. I have, I don't know how a few have been praised I could be in terms of a guy that that cares about it, a guy that gives it his all every single night, that that kind of attitude does permeate the team. Do they miss having a guy like Dylan Brooks, certainly? But Dylan Brooks shot 30%

in the playoffs. He shot 20% from three. And shot all the time. A high volume. So stop with the revisionist history here. Like, and it will happen to you too. Like, he may split on him last year. And look, they lost in the game seven in the first round of the, to the Warriors last year. Do you remember him? No, not in the game seven. No.

Okay. Yeah, nobody does. All I'm saying is, like, then the way it all ended, when he said they tried to make me the scapegoat there. Number one, played against the Lakers, and he goes and says, I poke bears talking about LeBron James. In shades with the DB chain and the fur coat, the whole nine. We go out there and get beat by a thousand.

He skips out of the arena, does not do media. So doesn't answer for any of this. then we get to year-end media day, skips out on that, never shows up, never faces the music after he's the one. Like he was at the front of the line saying, I don't give a shit, let's do this. I poke bears.

That's what I do. And then LeBron and the Lakers proceeded to beat the Grizzlies by literally a thousand. And you were the guy on the United States. the front line. Was he like three for 15 or something? Yeah. Terrible.

And LeBron is confronting him before the game, saying you're running that mouth. You're not like that. You're not like that. And then they proceeded to literally humiliate the Grizzlies. And the guy that was in the front line of said humiliation, bolted out of the locker room without talking, and then didn't show up for media day. Well, didn't they trade him like two weeks into the off-stand or something? Could we stop having the revisionist history of what he brought?

It was all Dandy Lions and Sunrays because that's how it ended. The idea that they moved on from that is not crazy at all, at all. A guy that shot a high volume at 30% and 20% from three and then pissed off the other team to the point where they beat the shit out of you. so badly that it's like franchise altering. Come on, bro. Come on. Come on.

Enough. We don't, I'm not allowed. That one's not sliding. So was he a free agent? And then the, yeah, they announced that they were not in the Dillardose business.

They announced that they would not resign him under any circumstance. But they did that like four days after the season ended, right? And I, the timing was wild. I'm happy for. him, he has become a much different player. But like with all the Joss stuff going on, whatever, it's free reign to be able to take shots.

But like, look, the, if you were, if you were thinking about the number one reason, like, because some people do bring that up, they'd be like, I should have never got rid of Dylan Brooks. Like, the number one reason that it has gone the way it has in Memphis for three years is that your best player doesn't play. That's it. That's it. he played nine games the next year.

He played 50 games the next year. And this year's played, what, like 18 or something like that? Like, that's number one on the list of reasons. Getting rid of a small forward that didn't shoot 40% is not. Like, it's, No, and I think that for Dylan Brooks to be who he is now, he needed to leave the Grizzlies. And play for Emeudoka.

Yes. He was never going to be told not to do that. in Memphis because he was the longest tender guy. And Brooke said in an interview that they were the big three and that Jha was like Wade and and and Jaron was like Bosch. You know who that makes him. LeBron James. Okay.

My final loathe is not going to be popular. I thought it was a great dunk. but there's too much about the Anthony Black dunk already. No, there's not. I've heard too much already. If you dunk on somebody, generally that person is between you and the basket and they are attempting to block the shot.

No. What the Anthony Black dunk is is visually impressive. It makes a great still frame, but he did not dunk on four Grizzlies. Four Grizzlies jumped in his viscous. vicinity while he dunked in transition. But that's, this was not him coming down the lane going chest to chest with a rim protector, cocking it back behind his head and then dunking on somebody.

Terrible take. Terrible. Listen, I was a good dunk. It was an impressive feat of athleticism. But calling it the dunk of the year, say he dunked on four grisies, when two of them were behind him. No. No.

It was just, it just, the circumstances led to a very impressive visual. No. But he did not dunk on four grisiesiesies. During the context of the game that he shifts through everybody to get to that point. And in an indictment of the Grizzlies, four possible contests, it's not his fault that they didn't contest it properly. That dunk is awesome. That is one of the most outrageous things I've ever seen.

I disagree. No, come on. I disagree. I'm going to give credit where credits do. That would, and you know what? That was a father-son moment. William was watching the game with me as it happened. And I mean, both of us like leapt out.

Oh, my God. Hold on a second. That was unbelievable. Shouldn't William be at school? Yesterday was a half day for grandparents day. Oh, what? Figure that out. They make up so many reasons to keep these kids at school.

Grandparents day? I don't know. Fuck, his grandparents day. I don't know. I've never heard of that before in my whole entire life. That's what it was. I don't. Grandparents day?

I don't. I didn't. So William had a half day. Correct. Came home early from school. No, after he went to Outback. With his great parents.

So he got a blooming onion with his grandparents. I asked him that and he said, I said, did you eat a blooming onion? He said, no. You go to Alpac and don't get a blooming onion? Do you know what this? I was like,

this is the most 15 year old thing ever. I said, did you get? He said a filet? I said, what? And noon? Okay. Okay. I was like, well, I guess you're going to run up the bill on the grandparents, huh? Crazy. I didn't even know you can get a full. I didn't know. To me, that is wild to go get up. I would never even, I don't know. A steak for lunch is doable. I think that's what Anna Wintour did like her entire life in doubleswear Prada too coming out soon.

I just- Anthony Hathaway. I just don't. I feel like I need a nap after I, you know what I mean? I can do a flay for lunch. I could do a 12-ounce filet for lunch, yeah. Just like just the filet, no potatoes. I don't.

Some like spinach and vegetables, think that'd be nice. You know what? I'm going to try it one day. I don't think I've ever eaten a steak for lunch in my life. But you've had like beef and broccoli for lunch from a Chinese food place. Yep. Same thing. You've had a steak salad for lunch.

Probably. Just chopped. up and put over lettuce. Probably. Go get yourself a filet for lunch today, buddy. I got Joe's pizza pizza when I was there with your town. I like it. I like Joe's. Every celebrity in the world was on that wall. Joe's got it going. Good slice. You weren't impressed with my slice and a half idea, though, which I've pitched before on many ringer podcast. But a brief, brief, brief pitch before we go is, uh, used to be a pizza professional, professional pizza maker. And we used to cut the pies. Essentially, you just cut the pies into half slices. So when

you go to a slice shop, you can have three different kinds of pizza. They're just half slices instead of one type of pizza. And what was your order when you went to Joe's? What was your order? I got two cheese pizzas. Two cheese slices. That's ridiculous. I mean, live your life, dude.

I just think you're addressing a sausage. I think you're addressing a very minor problem. Well, you can make major money addressing minor problems. That's fair. That's fair. Jacobi's pizza, it is. I can't wait to talk. on Tuesday when John Morant is on the

Oh, shut up. Or whatever. They're just going to leave him in London. They should. With one of those like big furry hats. All right. It's going to do it for another episode of the mismatch. Thank you to our producer Jesse Lopez as always.

We'll talk to you next week. Must be 21 or over and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino. Or 18 and over and present in D.C., Kentucky, or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Hall.org dot-com. Call 1-88-88-78-9-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MD Gamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit Gamblinghelpline, ma.org or call 800-327-50-50 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts.

or call 1-877-8-8-Hope-N-Y or text, Hope & Why in New York.